Northern Tasmania's budding 'entrepreneurs' are about to be the recipients of infrastructure valued something in the order of say '$4Million plus' in the form of Macquarie House in Launceston's Civic Square.
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This exemplar of heritage architecture holds with it all the promise of the 'endeavour' being a significant entity within the city's built environment no matter what. The building comes loaded with stories, layer upon layer of them. It sits in a key and historic location in Launceston's CBD – albeit a prime example of over capitalisation in a 21st commercial context.
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Then again this building, and the ways in which it is imagined, is all about 'political placescaping', and to some extent cultural landscaping, rather than anything vaguely resembling hard headed pragmatic commercialism.
If it were the latter, then there would be a requirement for it to return $300K to $400K in 'rents' and/or other incomes.
For the would be entrepreneurs for whom it is proposed this purposefully renovated 'heritage building' is intended, it'll be a bit more salubrious than that where many start-ups hang their first shingle. The opportunity is to set-up-shop in what in anyone's book should be a kick-start of a special kind even if there is no inbuilt success factor in play or even being implied. Moreover, there is an attendant assumption of 'the-greater-good' without any serious attempt to articulate what that might look like nor any hint of the 'dividends' this 'operation' is likely to deliver.
What this Macquarie House operation promises is a stark contrast to the family garages, box-rooms, bedrooms, dingy offices, garden sheds etc. where all too many budding enterprises – successful and otherwise – get their start. Here there is an interesting scenario in play in that there is a building that was looking for a purpose rather than, or more than, a cluster of evolving enterprises looking for a launching pad that was/is in a building – this building.
What has led up to the point that now pertains is by now a matter of history. Reportedly this 'facility' will throw its doors open to the world in a few months without doubt the mayor, a cluster of politicians and bureaucrats, TV cameras, the press and perhaps a few curious passers-by no doubt in attendance watching a ribbon being cut to the sound of brass band playing. There are cynics out there already suggesting that it will be coincident with some political event ... an election maybe?
A PARADIGM IN OPERATION
Meaning is always to be found in the context of a situation and especially so when it is in situations like this one When time is taken to contemplate 'meaning' a raft of question turn up looking for answers. The first being, how did we get here and why?
Any questioning of public sector decision making is ever likely to be unwelcomed but that is just the way of things when there is 'skin in the game' - personal 'investments' off to the side as often as not. When there is, it is ever likely that the questioning will become more intense with responses to questioning leading to more and more questions.
Typically, corporate bodies, and indeed 'governance' in all its manifestations, operate on the assumption that they beyond the reach of criticism and critique from 'outsiders' as an automatic default position. Nonetheless, this is rarely a sustainable position and very often 'corporate opacity' flies in the face of 'accountability' – yet as often as not transparency is enshrined in law.
So here we have an 'enterprise kick starter' that is not itself an 'enterprise' – or appears to be not intended to operate in a truly entrepreneurial manner. It turns out that the operation has transmogrified into a 'charity' without a pragmatic community oriented 'purpose'. Given its current legal status as a publicly funded not-for-profit operation it follows that it is perceived as and operates as a 'cost centre' and all it needs to do in order to succeed is survive.
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A PARADIGM IN OPERATION
Meaning is always to be found in the context of a situation and especially so when it is in situations like this one When time is taken to contemplate 'meaning' a raft of question turn up looking for answers. The first being, how did we get here and why?
Any questioning of public sector decision making is ever likely to be unwelcomed but that is just the way of things when there is 'skin in the game' - personal 'investments' off to the side as often as not. When there is, it is ever likely that the questioning will become more intense with responses to questioning leading to more and more questions.
Typically, corporate bodies, and indeed 'governance' in all its manifestations, operate on the assumption that they beyond the reach of criticism and critique from 'outsiders' as an automatic default position. Nonetheless, this is rarely a sustainable position and very often 'corporate opacity' flies in the face of 'accountability' – yet as often as not transparency is enshrined in law.
So here we have an 'enterprise kick starter' that is not itself an 'enterprise' – or appears to be not intended to operate in a truly entrepreneurial manner. It turns out that the operation has transmogrified into a 'charity' without a pragmatic community oriented 'purpose'. Given its current legal status as a publicly funded not-for-profit operation it follows that it is perceived as and operates as a 'cost centre' and all it needs to do in order to succeed is survive.
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